Flynn's Tangled
by MaggieMaybe160
Summary: This is the story of Disney's "Tangled" from Flynn Ryder's point of view. Most the the dialogue from the movie is used. This very closely follows the movie with expansions of Flynn's character. This is largely focused on the love story between Rapunzel and Flynn.
1. One: The Heist

**One: The Heist**

I'd been awake for a few hours already, making sure we had everything we needed and looking down at the sleeping kingdom where few guards did their patrol. The plan today was to steal the crown of the Lost Princess of Corona.

I was waiting on my two cohorts, the Stabbington brothers. I'd met them at the orphanage when I was old enough to room with the older kids. We didn't commonly work together, but this was a big enough job that it required more than two brutes or one dashing thief.

As the sun rose, my cohorts awoke, and we began our adventure across rooftops to the castle's roof.

"Wow. I could get used to a view like this." I sighed, looking out over the kingdom from my vantage point.

"Ryder! Come on!" Hissed one.

"Hold on. Yep. I'm used to it. Guys, I want a castle."

"We do this job, you can buy your own castle." They grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me to where they had uprooted a roof tile directly over the crown. I tied one end of the rope we had around myself and handed the other end to Eyepatch.

I climbed down into the room and they lowered the rope. In one hand I held the brown satchel that would hold the crown afterward, the other was free to snatch the crown. A ring of guards surrounded the pedestal with all of their backs toward the treasure. I picked up the crown right as one of the guards sneezed.

"Ugh, hayfever?" I asked, feeling cocky.

"Yeah." He said with a slight sniffle, only half turning. I quickly motioned for the Stabbingtons to pull me back up. "Hey! Wait!" I heard from the room as we put the tile back and started running.

As we crossed the bridge, I shouted to my men, "Can't you picture me in a castle of my own? Because I certainly can! All the things we've seen and it's only eight in the morning! Gentleman, this is a very big day!" I raised the bag with our loot in it over my head in triumph as we ran into the forest.

In the forest, I could hear the satisfying sound of palace guards in pursuit. There was no real meet-up point that we were running to. The best philosophy is to keep running until you've lost them. We had not yet lost them.

I paused, leaning against a tree as I tried to force my breathing to slow. My accomplices both doubled over with their hands on their knees as they raked in their breath. My eyes slid to the two wanted posters next to my hand.

"Huh?!" I ripped the poster with my name down. "Nononono. This is bad. This is really really bad!" I stared at my poster in horror. "They just can't get my nose right!" I turned the poster around and held it up next to my face to show the brothers the atrocity that was the drawing's nose.

"Who cares?"

"Well, that's easy for you to say!" I turned toward their poster that was still tacked onto the tree next to me. "You guys look amazing." This was a stretch. The truth was the drawing was as ugly as the two brutes standing in front of me, but at least it matched.

A whinny from a horse brought us all back to the present. I turned and saw the guards just one cliff over. In a minute or less they could be on our side. Without thinking I shoved my Wanted poster into the satchel with the crown as the three of us began to run again. Suddenly, we all skidded to a halt when faced with a wall. The top of the wall was out of reach for all of us.

"Alright. Okay." I said, touching the wall and trying to think. "Give me a boost and I'll pull you up."

The two brutes exchanged a sidelong glance before saying, "Give us the satchel first." Annoyance bubbled up in me but came out as mock hurt.

I gasped and said, "I just...I can't believe that after all we've been through together...You still don't trust me?" Their empty stares were answer enough. "Ouch." I deadpanned as I handed the satchel over. As it left my hands I was already thinking about how to get it back and leave these two behind.

They created a ladder leading up for me to climb to the top. Hanging off the shoulder of one was the satchel. As I climbed, I made everything awkward and painful on purpose. To rearrange his shoulders as I stepped up, he let his arm come away from the wall and as he closed his eyes I slipped it off his arm and up onto the ledge that I was about to climb. Too easy. I stepped on the side of his face for good measure and hopped up, proud of myself.

"Now, help us up, pretty boy." He extended his hand up toward me.

"Sorry." I smiled my dashing smile. "My hands are full." I held up the satchel and ran as they screamed after me. I saw the path ending ahead of me as I ran and turned too fast, almost losing my balance. I could feel the ground shaking from the horses' hooves behind me. The guards were yelling to each other and the horses were whinnying behind me as I ran. I ducked under the fallen tree branch in front of me as the guards all shot arrows. I paused, looking down at the arrows that were now embedded in the tree where I used to be standing just seconds before.

 _I can't outrun a horse. I can't outrun a horse. I can't outrun a horse._ My mind was racing. I leaped through a narrow split in a tree, losing all but one of the guards. Directly in front of me, a heavy rope-like vine hung from a tree. Hoping beyond all hope that it wouldn't break, I grabbed it and jumped off a rock, sending myself flying around a tree. I was coming back around just as the guard was in the perfect spot. I stuck my feet out and kicked him off of his horse.

"Yeah! Haha!" I shouted, taking the reins of the palace horse. The horse stopped dead and turned it's head. "Come on, fleabag, forward." I urged it right before it tried to bite the satchel out of my hands. I yanked my hand with the satchel away. "No." Soon we were fighting, spinning in circles as the horse tried again and again to bite the bag. I flung my arm backward as the horse lost it's grip on the bag and it went flying, landing on a small branch that was hanging over the edge of a cliff.

I dove off of the horse, reaching for the satchel. The horse followed and after a struggle, ended up on top of the branch with me hanging on to the bottom of the branch. It snarled and stamped its hooves, aiming (can horses aim?) for my hands. I crawled away as fast as I could at the same time as trying to reach the satchel before it fell. I reached for it and grabbed it, letting out a triumphant, "Ha!"

It was too late. There was too much weight on the branch. I heard the log snapping and grabbed on tighter as it broke off. As I fell, still clinging to the branch, I let out a scream. The log, carrying myself and the guard's white horse, hit a rock halfway down and snapped down the middle, sending us flying in opposite directions. I hit the floor of more forest and even though my whole body hurt after the fall, got up to hide behind a rock in case the horse was still looking. I waited for a moment before standing up and leaning against the vine covered wall next to me. Not a wall.

My hand went through the vines and I groaned. Suddenly I heard the horse's whinny. I ducked behind the vines and pressed myself into a rock that was right behind them. The horse came running and stopped, looking for me. After a moment, the horse made a disgruntled noise and moved on. I relaxed and looked the other way.

There was a whole secret world behind the veil of vines. A waterfall made a creek that ran through the meadow. Standing tall in the center of this small little world was a tower made of stone. The whole area was hidden, being surrounded by rock. I walked toward the tower and looked up. Here, I'd be safe for a little while.

I took out two sturdy arrows from the satchel that was slung across my torso and wedged them into the crevices of the stones that made the tower. I climbed up the wall and grabbed onto the wooden windowsill that seemed too big to be a window and climbed in.

"Alone at last." I smiled, opening the satchel to reveal the crown. Behind me something hard and metal struck me on the back of my head and everything went black before I even hit the floor.


	2. Two: The Tower

**Two: The Tower**

The first time I came to, I opened my eyes and saw the tiles of the ground that my face was pressed against right before I was hit hard enough to pass out again.

The second time I was slumped in a dark room. It didn't really count as a room. It might have been a closet or something similar. There was no light and everything hurt. It felt as if my hand had been slammed in a door and my head was throbbing with pain. "You! Are not! leaving this tower! Ever!" A woman was shouting. The pain in my head was keeping me from keeping my eyes open. I couldn't help passing out again.

The third time, something woke me up but I don't know what. I looked around but I couldn't see anyone. I was tied to a chair. I looked down at my bindings as I struggled. My eyes followed the golden bindings up into the rafters.

"Is this...hair?" I asked out loud as the thought passed me.

"Struggling… Struggling is pointless!" A small lady's voice came as my eyes reached the end of the golden hair. I squinted against the light that was pouring in from the sun roof above me as the girl hopped down from the rafters. "I know why you're here and I'm not afraid of you." She said, hiding in the shadows.

"What?" I tried to squint against the light to try to see who she was. Did I know her?

She walked into the light, holding her head up high in all of it's beauty and asked gently, "Who are you and how did you find me?"

"Aha." My eyes were stuck on her big green eyes. My mind was stuck.

"Who are you and how did you find me?" She asked more vehemently, raising a frying pan over her head.

I cleared my throat. "I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you. But may I just say," I wanted to sweet talk this beautiful lady and maybe live through this ordeal but a kiss never hurts. "Hi." I flashed a dashing smile and bounced my eyebrows. "How ya doin'?" Maybe she knew me already? "My name's Flynn Ryder." She looked more confused than wooed. "How's your day goin'?"

"Who else knows my location, _Flynn Ryder_?" She spat my name like it was the name of a poisonous bug that she didn't care for while she swung her frying pan toward my face, threateningly.

"Alright, Blondie." I said, trying to put my hands up in submission since schmoozing clearly wasn't working.

"Rapunzel." She scowled.

"Gesundheit." I quipped. "Here's the thing. I was in a situation, gallivanting through the forest. I came across your tower and-" At that moment I realized the satchel with the crown was gone. "Oh.. oh no!" I looked around, gripping the armrests on the chair I was tied to. "Where is my satchel?"

The blonde girl smiled proudly and folded her arms. "I've hidden it somewhere you'll never find it." I looked back at the pot that my eyes had skipped over a moment ago.

"It's in that pot? Isn't it?"

Before I knew it, the pan hit me over the head again and everything went black. Again.

The fourth time, a lizard was sitting on my shoulder with it's tongue in my ear. I jumped up and rubbed my ear against my shoulder. "Would you stop that?" The girl was standing in front of me with the frying pan under her arm.

"Now, it's hidden where you'll never find it." She said without a moment's hesitation. "So what do you want with my hair?" She tossed some of her hair behind her as she circled me. To cut it? Sell it?"

"No." I leaned away from her and her frying pan. "Listen. The only thing I want to do with your hair is to get out of it." I remembered I was tied to a chair with her hair. How much did she have? "Literally." I struggled against my bonds for illustration.

"Wait." She straightened up and paused. "You...You don't want my hair?"

"Why on Earth would I want your hair?!" Exasperation bubbled up in me. "Look, I was being chased. I saw a tower. I climbed it. End of story."

"You're telling the truth?" She pointed the frying pan at me but it was less threatening this time.

"Yes!" I just wanted to get out of here alive. I didn't know how many times I'd been hit over the head, who put me in a closet earlier, or what else had happened to me while I was unconscious. The lizard appeared on her shoulder and ran down her arm onto the frying pan and squinted at me. I leaned away as it stabbed it's tail in her direction and looked back at me. She took the lizard in her hands and stepped away from me, whispering to it.

 _I've got to get out of here._ I looked over my shoulder and saw the window where I'd come into this crazy room. I tried moving the chair toward the window.

"Okay Flynn Ryder," I froze at my name. "I'm prepared to offer you a deal."

"Deal?" She was crazy.

"Look this way." She yanked her hair so the chair spun in the direction of a mural framed by red velvet curtains. "Do you know what these are?" She revealed a painting depicting the lantern festival for the Lost Princess of Corona.

"You mean the lantern thing they do for the princess?" I asked even though it was obvious.

"Lanterns." She sighed, looking back up at the painting. "I knew they weren't stars! Well, tomorrow evening, they will light the night's sky with these _lanterns_. You will act as my guide. Take me to these lanterns and return me home safely. Then, and only then, will I return your satchel to you. That is my deal."

My head was already spinning from the multiple beatings, but guiding someone (that was holding me hostage) through a kingdom that I was wanted dead or alive in was not a fun concept. "No can do. Unfortunately, the kingdom and I aren't exactly 'simpatico' at the moment, so I won't be taking you anywhere." Mistake. Her face contorted back into a scowl.

She hopped down from where she had been standing next to the mural. "Something brought you here, _Flynn Ryder_." She walked closer and closer to me. "Call it what you will. Fate. Destiny."

"A horse." I deadpanned.

"So I have made the decision to trust you." She ignored my quip and continued.

"A horrible decision, really."

"But, trust me when I tell you this." She pulled me toward her so that my chair was only on two legs and our faces were only inches apart. "You can tear this tower apart, brick by brick, but without my help you will never find your precious satchel."

I cleared my throat, "Let me just get this straight. I take you to see the lanterns, bring you home, and you'll give me back my satchel?"

"I promise." The last time I'd heard someone say they promised anything was back in the orphanage. Promises just aren't made anymore. "And when I promise something, I never ever break that promise." I lifted an unamused eyebrow. "Ever."

"Alright, listen. I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice." My schmooze tactic was back. "Here comes the smoulder." I squinted my eyes and pouted my lips before looking back up at her. Her face remained unchanged. "This is kind of an off day for me. This doesn't usually happen. Fine! I'll take you to see the lanterns!" I gave up. In her excitement, she let go of the chair that had been on it's front two legs, letting it drop.

"Really!? Oops."

"You broke my smoulder." I mumbled into the floor.


	3. Three: The Forest

**Three: The Forest**

"We have to go." She said mostly to herself as she righted the chair and me again. I didn't answer. "Okay. We're going." She said after a few minutes. "I'm going to untie you."

"How are we leaving? I don't see the door." She was unwinding her hair from the chair.

"There." She pointed to the window that I climbed through. When I was free of her hair I walked to the window and looked down.

"You're sure?" She ignored me and waited for me to step out of the window.

I climbed over the edge of the sill and stabbed my arrows into the stone again, just as I had coming up. I was getting lower and lower and she still wasn't here.

"You coming, Blondie?" I called up, annoyed. Was she going to break the deal? A few moments later a rush of golden hair fell past me. I looked up and pressed myself against the wall as she jumped out of the window, laughing. When I looked down after her she was stopped dead above the ground, holding onto her hair for dear life. I kept climbing down. When I got to the bottom she was running full force toward the rock with the hanging vines that I had come through to get here. When I caught up to her she was repeating "I can't believe I did this." Over and over.

"Mother will be so furious." Rapunzel's eyes grew wide. I waited for more to come but she was frozen like that.

"We should get going." I said after a moment or two. She followed silently, a distant look on her face. I walked ahead of her, toward the kingdom. I had just passed a small pond when I heard a giggle behind me and a small splash. I turned and saw her sitting on a rock with her feet in the water.

"Well, that's okay. I mean what she doesn't know won't kill her, right?" She asked as she picked up a water lily. She was smiling again and put the flower back on a lily pad before getting up and following me into a cave.

"Just through here," I said, not knowing what else I was supposed to be saying to her while she talked to herself. I looked behind me again when we were almost out of the cave and she was curled up on the floor rocking back in forth.

"Oh my gosh, this would _kill_ her."

"We really need to go." I said, looking around, hoping to get out of this cave before spiders or bats or gross things like that found me.

She got up, looking horrified at herself. The second we got out of the cave though, a smile broke out on her face. "This is so fun!" She screamed as she ran past me in circles, kicking leaves into the air and racing around. _This lady is crazy. I need to get out of this deal._ When I looked around again she was climbing a tree with vigor. Once on a sturdy branch, she leaned into the trunk. "I am a horrible daughter. I'm going back." She shrugged, looking defeated.

"Come on." I urged. It didn't take more than that. She climbed back down without a word. We walked in silence again until we came to a small hill. She acted like she'd never seen any of these things in her life. She was suddenly all energy again.

"I am never going back!" She yelled as she threw herself down and rolled down the hill. Her crazy amounts of hair wound around her, giving her a golden cocoon.

"Need help?" I asked when she didn't move.

"Yes, please." She smiled a little guiltily. I sat down next to her and unwound her hair from her. She turned over, face down in the flowers and grass. "I am a despicable human being." She groaned into the Earth.

"Okay, let's go." I said after she didn't say anything more for a few minutes. She got up and spotted another tree. She ran to it and threw her hair up onto a high branch. I leaned against the tree, thinking she was going to climb it again. I was wrong. She finished what she was doing and giggled as she jumped off of the ground and swung around the tree using her hair.

"Best! Day! Ever!" She yelled every time she came around. I decided I was going to wait for her to finish this before moving on. Maybe she'd back out. She stopped soon enough and walked to some rocks near the tree. She plopped down and buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

I'd dealt with her almost giving up, so happy she was never going to go back home, and angry enough to tie me up and force me to take her out here, but she hadn't cried. I pushed myself off of the tree I'd been leaning against and walked over to her, clearing my throat to announce myself.

"You know, I can't help but notice...you seem a little at war with yourself, here." I said, crouching down next to her.

She sniffed and wiped a tear away with one finger. "What?" She looked over at me with big watery eyes.

"Now, I'm just picking up bits and pieces here." I had to work fast to try to get out of this deal. I stood up again and her eyes followed me. "Overprotective mother, forbidden road trip… This is serious stuff. But let me ease your conscience. This is part of growing up. A little rebellion, a little adventure… That's good. Healthy even." What would I know about a healthy growing up? I thought back to running away from the orphanage when I was a teenager.

"You think?" Rapunzel sniffed and wiped her hand across her nose.

"I know!" I lied. "You're way overthinking this, trust me. Does your mother deserve it?" She shook her head softly as I said no. "Would this break her heart and crush her soul? Of course! But you've just got to do it!" She cringed away from me a little.

"Break her heart?" She asked as I picked a small cherry tomato from a stray vine.

"In half." I knew this was cruel by the look on her face, but I needed to get out of this.

"Crush her soul?"

"Like a grape." I squished the cherry tomato between my fingers.

"She _would_ be heartbroken, you're right!" I helped her up as her eyes went distant again.

"I am, aren't I? Oh bother. Alright, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm letting you out of the deal." I walked over to where her frying pan was leaning against a rock.

"What?"

"That's right!" Her lizard climbed up on the rock next to the pan and I grabbed it too. "But don't thank me. Let's just turn around and get you home. Here's your pan. Here's your frog." I gave her both and put my arm around her, pulling her back the way we came. "I get back my satchel. You get back a mother daughter relationship based on mutual trust and voilà, we part ways as unlikely friends."

Suddenly, she pushed me away from her. "No! I am seeing those lanterns!"

"Oh come on!" Anger boiled inside of me. "What is it going to take for me to get my satchel back!?" She pointed her frying pan at me and I stopped, putting my hands up.

"I will use this." She threatened.

Before Rapunzel had lowered her weapon, a bush near us rustled. It was probably just some forest creature. Before I knew what was happening, she had leaped onto my back, her arms around my neck and shoulders, her legs wound around my middle. My arm went up instinctively to keep her leg up.

"Is it ruffians? Thugs? Have they come for me?!" She squeaked in fear from my back. One of her arms pointed outward with her frying pan. I watched the bush without fear while Rapunzel started to shake. A gray rabbit hopped out of the bush.

"Stay calm, it can probably smell fear." I deadpanned as the rabbit bolted away from us.

"Oh." She started to disentangle herself from me. "Sorry. Guess I'm a little bit jumpy." She looked bashful as she gripped the edges of her frying pan.

I straightened my vest. "It would probably be best if we avoided ruffians and thugs, though." I almost laughed.

"Yeah… That'd probably be best." She smiled. It suddenly occurred to me that taking her to a place filled with bar thugs would probably make her back out of ever wanting to go to the kingdom.

"Are you hungry? I know a great place for lunch!" I remembered going to The Snuggly Duckling many times and none of those men were friendly in the least.

"Where?" She asked, lowering her pan.

"Oh, don't you worry. You'll know it when you smell it." I said, grabbing the other end of her frying pan to lead her.


	4. Four: The Snuggly Duckling

**Four: The Snuggly Duckling**

"Where are we going?" She asked after a few minutes.

"Don't you like surprises?" I looked over my shoulder at her. She mumbled something that sounded like "Hazel Soup" and shrugged. I let go of the frying pan and she picked up her pace to walk next to me.

It was only about twenty minutes later when I saw the sign and the tavern come into view. "Ah, there it is! The Snuggly Duckling. Don't worry. Very quaint place. Perfect for you. Don't want you scaring and giving up on this whole endeavour, now do we?"

"Well…" She paused, smiling a little. "I do like ducklings."

"Yay!" I felt a little bad for mocking her, but only a little.

We walked up to the door and I threw it open. "Garçon, your finest table please!" My other arm was around Rapunzel's shoulders and it only took a flash of a moment with the door open for her to stiffen in fear. She held out her weapon and started shaking. Not knowing where to look, she kept moving to protect herself.

"Do you smell that?" I asked, knowing full well that I was being mean. "Take a deep breath through the nose. Really let that seep in." I said, putting my hands on her shaking shoulders. "What're you getting? Because to me it's part man smell and the other part is _really_ bad man smell. Over all it just smells like the color brown. Your thoughts?" I taunted, urging her further and further into the tavern.

As we passed a short bearded man, he picked up her trail of golden hair. She squeaked and turned around, trying to pull her hair out of his hands. "That's a lot of hair." He said in amazement. I smiled a little.

"She's growing it out." I joked. "Is that blood in your mustache?" I asked, leaning forward to inspect his red facial hair. "Goldie, look at this! Look at all the blood in his mustache. Good sir! That's a lot of blood!" I turned around right after she'd bumped into a growling drunk. Her face drained of all color. "Hey, you don't look so good, Blondie. Maybe we should get you home, call it a day. After all, this is a five star joint and if you can't handle this place maybe you should be back in your tower." I started leading her back to the front door as she continued to shake and look around with her big green anxiety ridden eyes. The door suddenly slammed and my heart stopped for a moment.

"Is this you?" A big guy asked, a wanted poster under his hand. It was obviously me. I looked from him to the poster feeling my nerves rise in my throat. I moved his finger that was over the drawing's nose to reveal a caricature.

"Ugh, now they're just being mean." I said in disgust. There didn't seem to be a way out of

this one.

"Oh, it's him alright." A bald man with a hook for a hand said, stepping toward us. In spite of myself I blocked his path to Rapunzel, putting myself between her and the two at the front door. I felt her hand grab my shoulder. "Gretta, go find some guards!" With his hand, he grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me close. Scraping the bottom of my chin with his sharpened hook he said, "That reward's gunna buy me a new hook."

Suddenly, I was yanked back from behind and pulled off the ground. "I could use the money!" Then the man who'd had the wanted poster pulled me back, "What about me? I'm broke! Get back" He shouted as everyone swarmed. Hands pulled at my limbs and clothes. Everyone was shouting. I could barely hear Rapunzel protesting over the roar.

"We can work this out!" I attempted as all of my limbs were pulled in different directions. "Gentlemen, please!" I shouted as one had my head in a headlock. Most of the thugs had now come onto the same team and were holding me up to get punched by Hook Hand. "Not the nose! Not the nose!" I pleaded as Hook Hand wound up and someone else held my head in place. I closed my eyes in fear and there was a loud _Thwack_!

"Put him down!" Rapunzel yelled. My eyes moved from Hook Hand to Rapunzel who was standing behind him. She pulled her hair back from the tree branch. "Okay!" She seemed nervous with all eyes on her suddenly. She looked around and picked up her frying pan from a nearby stool. "I don't know where I am and I need him to take me to see the lanterns," She swung the pan to gesture to me, "because I've been dreaming of them my entire life! Find your humanity! Haven't any of you ever had a dream?" Silence followed her pleading.

 _Don't kill her._ I thought as Hook Hand turned away from me and walked toward her. Someone lifted me up and hooked me up on the tree trunk that was the center of this tavern.

"I had a dream once." Hook Hand said nostalgically. He threw his axe at the wall where an accordion player was sitting, trembling. _What is even happening right now?_ I looked around and no one else seemed as off put by this as me. Music began and Hook Hand began to sing. I watched from my perch as everyone sang just because Rapunzel wanted to see the light festival for the princess.

Piano, love, flowers, design, miming, baking, knitting, sewing, puppeteering, collecting- _wait, did they just say unicorns?_

"What about you?" Hook Hand asked.

"I'm sorry, me?" I asked from my hook on the tree.

"Yeah, what's your dream?" the lover said, grabbing my shoulders. He lifted me and put me back on the ground.

"No no no. Sorry boys, I don't sing." I said, crossing my arms. I would take a beautiful lunatic into the kingdom that I was wanted in (dead or alive) but I drew the line at singing. Every thug that had just revealed some deep dream of theirs was now pointing a sword at my neck. I quickly scrambled onto a table for a stage.

"I have dreams like you, no really!" I sang with a small note of anxiety. "Just much less touchy feely. They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny! On an island that I own; tan and rested and alone! Surrounded by enormous piles of money!" by the time I finished singing the lie I'd been telling myself for years I was being thrown into the air.

Rapunzel's voice rose above the rest of the noise. "I've got a dream!" She was standing on a table. "I've got a dream. I just want to see those floating lanterns gleam!" She sang beautifully and without hesitation. "And with every passing hour, I'm so glad I left my tower! Like all you lovely folks I've got a dream!"

The singing continued and so did the displays of dreams. Thugs displaying their dreams is much more violent than a mere song. I was thrown around the room while they sent me running on a barrel and breathed fire in front of me. They threw and they stomped and they sang until the man everyone had forgotten about threw open the door.

"I've found the guards!" He yelled. Everything stopped including my heart. I grabbed Rapunzel from the table she was standing on and pulled her behind the bar where we crouched down to hide.


	5. Five: The Escape

**Five: The Escape**

Rapunzel and I were shown a trap door behind the bar and quickly made our escape as the other bar thugs kept the guards busy. We walked in silence for a few moments, getting away from the trap door before speaking.

"Well, I've gotta say, I didn't know you had that in you back there." I admitted to Rapunzel as I inspected the walls we were walking past. "That was pretty… impressive."

"I know!" Rapunzel squealed, surprising me. I looked back at her. "I know." She said, collecting her cool and playing it off. I smiled. She was pretty cute.

"So… Flynn. Where are you from?"

"Whoa! Whoa! Sorry, Blondie, I don't do backstory." I said quickly. "However, I am becoming very interested in yours. Now, I know I'm not supposed to mention the hair."

"Nope." She said with a small mischievous smile.

"Or the mother."

"Nuh, uh."

"And frankly, I'm too scared to ask about the frog." I joked.

"Chameleon?" She gestured to the small reptile on her shoulder.

"Nuance." I brushed off her correction. "Here's my question, though. If you want to see the lanterns so badly, why haven't you gone before?" I stopped walking and looked back at her, lifting the lantern I was holding to illuminate her.

"Uh." She looked down nervously. "Well." She bit her lip. Suddenly, a small rock fell from the ceiling and hit her head. The walls, floor, and ceiling all began to shake. "Uh, Flynn?" She looked behind her where I was now looking. The passage we had just come from was now filling with light and the guards came into view, running to catch up to us. "Flynn!?"

"Ryder!" The head guard yelled, still running after us.

"Run!" I yelled, a little delayed. She gathered up her hair and started to run. "Run!" I yelled again, my hand grabbing her shoulder and pushing her ahead of me.

We came out onto a cliff's edge next to the dam. There was nowhere to go without taking a steep plunge to the hard stone beneath. We ran to the edge where a ladder was right as the Stabbington brothers busted through another entrance down below, both brandishing swords.

"Who's that?" Rapunzel asked, leaning away from the edge into my arm.

"They don't like me." I said, pointing down at them with my other hand.

Behind us were the noises of the guards catching up. Rapunzel moved to look around me as I turned to see them.

"Who's that?" She asked again.

"They don't like me either." As I was saying it, the guard's horse that I'd ridden and fought with earlier ran up behind them and whinnied.

"Who's that?!" Rapunzel asked for the third time.

"Let's assume for the moment that everyone here doesn't like me!" I said, moving her out from in front of me so I could see her face. She set her jaw and slammed her frying pan into my chest.

"Here!" She said as I grabbed it. She threw her hair over a wooden beam that was hanging over a different cliff.

 _What is happening?_ I thought to myself as she leaped off the cliff, hanging onto her hair. I couldn't help but smile as she flew through the air. I watched her land safely on the other cliff before the sound of the guard's malicious laugh brought me back to my own predicament.

"I've waited a long time for this." The head guard said, tossing his torch to the side carelessly. I looked from his hands, which were now grabbing a sword, to my own hands that were holding Rapunzel's frying pan. He came toward me and there was no time to hesitate. I swung the frying pan. There was a _thwack_ as the frying pan hit his head. He crumpled to the ground as another guard made his way for me, brandishing his sword in a childlike way. I hit him twice before he went down. The third and fourth were the same.

"Oh, Mama, I have got to get me one of these!" I shouted, looking at the frying pan and weighing it in my hand with a few spins and tosses. The sound of a sword unsheathing made me hold the frying pan out, ready for my next victim. Holding the sword, though, was no man. The white horse held the sword in between it's teeth as it snarled. Taken aback, I didn't move until it thrashed its head, almost hitting me with the sword. I blocked every blow with the frying pan.

"You should know that this is the strangest thing I've ever done!" I called out loud enough for Rapunzel to hear. As I did, the sword in the horse's mouth made contact with the frying pan at just the right angle that it fell from my grasp and to the bottom of the cliff. Both the horse and I stopped, looking where the frying pan had fallen. "How about two out of three?" I joked, looking back to the horse. It immediately started to snarl again, revving up to attack me. I put my hands up.

"Flynn!" Rapunzel yelled. She'd thrown her hair to me. It wrapped around my hand and I grabbed on. She pulled and I let myself fall backward off of the cliff's edge. "Flynn! Look out!" She yelled as I flew over the Stabbington brothers and their swords.

"Whoa! Whoaaa!" I yelled as I got closer. Once I'd passed them I laughed, looking back at them. "You should see your faces because you look-" I slammed into a wooden beam from the suspended trench that led to the dam. "Ridiculous." I finished, wincing in pain. I climbed onto the top of the trench and unwound her hair from my hand. When I looked back, the horse and the reawakened guards were running toward Rapunzel via a fallen wooden beam that used to be holding up the dam's wall.

"Come on, Blondie. Jump!" I called, holding her hair in my hands. She set her jaw and leaped, the horse biting at her as she narrowly escaped them. She landed in a splash of water underneath where I was standing. She tugged her hair out of my hands so it fell to the floor where she was. I watched as the Stabbingtons immediately started running for her. I jumped into the trench and started sliding as fast as I could in the direction that Rapunzel was now running. The trench was falling apart and I could hear the dam cracking and busting behind me.

I jumped off and rolled as I hit the floor. I grabbed up the trailing end of Rapunzel's hair as we ran. Behind us was the sounds of wood breaking and water rushing. We wouldn't have a lot of time to make it to safe ground before the water would reach us. Ahead of us was a small opening in the rocks. It would have to do. One of the canyon's stand alone cliffs was hit by the massive amount of water that was now right behind us. The cliff made a cracking sound and suddenly a shadow appeared over us as it fell. We had made it to the opening at the same time as the water. The water brought the lost frying pan which I grabbed right before the cliff came crashing down, locking us into this miniature cave.

We both watched the water rising inside the cave that was looking more and more like a tomb. Rapunzel started to climb up and I followed her, trying to see any way out of here. It only took a second or two before we were both at the top and the water had reached our feet. I dove into the rising water to search for any way out that I possibly could.

Pitch blackness was all I could see and the water was so cold it was numbing. I bobbed back up almost instantly due to the cold. I gasped for breath before diving back in, bracing myself against the cold water. I swam to the bottom and hit solid stone before swimming back up.

Rapunzel was hitting the walls with her frying pan, trying to knock something loose. I joined, slamming my shoulders into the sides as hard as I could. I felt a spot that was two rocks jammed together. Hope. I gripped the edge of the rock and pushed with all my strength. My hand slipped and searing pain shot through my hand as my palm was ripped open. I clenched my fist to protect the fresh wound before diving back into the water that was now to my torso.

I couldn't see and the numbing from the freezing water wasn't helping any of my senses. I couldn't find a way out. I felt my heart sink, realizing we were going to die here. I swam back up.

"It's no use. I can't see anything." I gasped, wiping water out of my eyes. Rapunzel braced herself for a moment before taking in a huge breath and diving, just as I had. _Nonono!_ I dove after her, grabbing her thin shoulder and pulling her back up. "Hey! There's no point!" I said, moving her now drenched hair away from her face. "It's pitch black down there." I brought my hands away from her beautiful and terrified face slowly as the realization of imminent death dawned on her, too.

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the rocks that were trapping us. "It's all my fault." Rapunzel cried next to me. I opened my eyes to look out at the water that was still rising. "She was right. I never should have done this." A shiver ran through me and I brought my hands up to cover my shoulders against the cold. "I'm so… I'm so sorry, Flynn." She lost the rest of her composure and sobbed quietly into her hands, turning away from me.

"Eugene." I corrected. If we were going to die, we were going to know who the other truly was.

"What?" She looked back over at me in the dark.

"My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert." I confessed. She didn't say anything and my eyes fell to where the water met her arm. "Someone might as well know." I looked back up at her and offered a small smile. She smiled a little in response, wiping her nose on the back of her hand.

"I have magic hair that glows when I sing." Rapunzel said with a smile.

"What?" I jerked away. It was one thing to kidnap someone and force them to be your tour guide. It was another to either lie in a moment of death or confess to madness.

"I have. Magic Hair that glows when I sing!" Rapunzel said excitedly, grabbing onto her hair. She really was crazy. The water was almost to our chins and rising faster now that it had nowhere else to go. "Flower gleam and glow! Let your power shine!" Rapunzel sang quickly as we both took in big breaths as the water rose over our heads.

Her golden hair began to gleam with light as bright as sunlight and spread from her scalp to the tips of her very long hair. It took me a moment before it registered.

"Whoa!" I screamed, letting most of my air out before I covered my mouth with my hand. She ignored my outburst and followed the light of her hair to a weak spot near the floor where water was draining and pulling her hair with it. We exchanged a quick glance before swimming for the spot and trying to pull the rocks away from the spot.

Her hair began to dim and I was becoming more and more frantic, pushing and pulling at rocks. Suddenly, I pushed one and it broke free, my arm pushing through the hole. I pushed another and all of the rocks fell, water and Rapunzel and I, falling with them.


	6. Six: The Glowing Hair

**Six: The Glowing Hair**

As we'd fallen from the cave, I'd grabbed onto Rapunzel to keep us relatively together. The current took us not too far before I pushed her up next to land and jumped up from the water onto the grass. For a few moments all that could be heard was gasping, coughing, and spluttering.

"We made it. We're alive." Rapunzel said, sounding relieved and relaxed as if we hadn't just almost died.

"Her hair glows." I said out loud by accident.

"We're alive." Rapunzel said next to me, ignoring my outburst. "We're alive!" She scrambled to her feet and went to go fish her hair out of the water.

"I didn't see that coming." I said out loud, moving my hair out of my face. "Her hair actually glows." I said, looking at her pet reptile who sat on the grass next to me. "Why does her hair glow?!" I asked, leaning toward the small reptilian creature.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel said for the third time.

"What?!" I asked, moving my gaze from her pet to her face.

"It doesn't just glow." She smiled, holding up some of her golden hair.

It took a few minutes but I got up and helped drag the rest of her hair out of the water before we hauled it into the forest. I was apprehensive about touching _magical_ hair but she wasn't singing so we should be fine.

"What did you mean by that?" I asked, looking over at her.

"By what?"

"The 'it doesn't just glow' bit?" I held up her hair in illustration as she had when she'd said it. She let out a small nervous laugh.

"Remember when you were naming the things you weren't allowed to ask about?" She asked, throwing me a cute smile.

"The hair, the mother, the _chameleon_." I listed.

"There you go." She smiled.

"Here?" Rapunzel asked for maybe the seventh time in twenty minutes. The sun was going down finally so I agreed. I spilled my armful of hair into her arms.

"I'm going to grab some things to make a fire." I said, walking away and cradling my hand.

"Eugene?" Rapunzel asked before I was too far. I stopped and turned around. "Can you promise to stay a little close?" She asked, looking around at where the forest had already gone dark. I nodded and went back to it.

As i picked up stones and sticks I would look up and see her carefully setting her hair out to dry the rest of it. She would comb her fingers through the golden locks and set it down carefully before moving on. I walked back and started making the firepit out of the stones I'd grabbed.

When the fire was finally going at a steady pace, I looked over at Rapunzel who was sitting on the tree patiently. "Please sit." She nodded to the pace next to her. I walked over and sat down. "Can you give me your hurt hand?" She asked, her eyes darting to my hand that was now aching and undoubtedly going to become infected and fall off. She held out her hands for mine.

"Why?" I asked as I put my injured hand in her two delicate hands.

"You'll find out." She answered vaguely. She grabbed the end of her hair and started to wrap it around my injury.

"So, you're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your magic hair around my injured hand." I said after a few moments of intense wrapping. She looked up as I was talking and pulled a little hard. I winced.

"Sorry." She said, wincing in empathy. "Just. Don't. Don't freak out." She said, looking guilty. My eyes darted between her guilty eyes and my golden wrapped hand and back up to her face before she sighed.

She closed her eyes and her face relaxed as she started to sing slowly and clearly. "Flower, gleam and glow. Let your power shine." As she sang, her hair lit up again and the light moved toward the tips of her hair as it had in the cave. I watched it as she sang. "Make the clock reverse. Bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt." I watched as the glow moved to the hair that was wrapped around my hand. "Change the fate's design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine. What once was mine." I didn't know where to look. Was she a witch? What was happening. AS she finished singing I realized my hand didn't hurt anymore. She opened her eyes and looked up at me as if guilty of a horrible secret.

I felt anxiety creeping up in me as I looked from her shame covered face to my hand. I lifted it and pulled the hair gently away. The angry red gash in my hand was missing. The pain was gone. My hand looked like nothing had ever happened to it. The fear rose in my throat and started to come out as a strangled yell.

"Please don't freak out!" Rapunzel said hastily, putting her hands up.

Small noises escaped my throat before I knew what to say as I sat frozen in fear. "I'mnotfreakingout. Areyoufreakingout?" I didn't know what to do with my newly healed hand and put it on my face before rethinking it and shoving it under my other arm and hugging myself. "NoI'mjustveryinterestedinyourhairandthemagicalqualitiesthatitpossesses. How long has it been doing that exactly?"

"Uh." Rapunzel's guilt melted away and she smiled. "Forever, I guess?" She shrugged, holding the smile for only a moment before it fell away. Her shoulders slid back down and she looked away. "Mother said that when I was a baby someone tried to cut it." She looked back up at me as I relaxed, listening to her. "They wanted to take it for themselves. But once it's cut…" She moved her hair away from her neck revealing a short brown lock of hair. "...it turns brown and loses it's power. A gift like that… it has to be protected. That's why mother never let me-" She cut herself off looking sad. " That's why I never left and…" She trailed off, looking away from me.

"You never left that tower." I finished for her, the truth dawning on me. She'd never been to see her lanterns because she'd never left. She needed a guide because she'd never been anywhere. She was so afraid because she was outside of the only place she'd ever known. She turned and looked at me with sad green eyes. "And you're still going to go back?"

"No!" Rapunzel said immediately. "Yes?" She shrugged her shoulders up and looked as if she were in pain thinking about the possibility of ever going back. "It's complicated." She buried her face in her hands. My chest felt tight and I wanted to reach out to her but something was stopping me.

She peeked up at me through her fingers and caught me looking at her. She smoothed her hair back and sat up straight again with a sigh, letting the tension out from the conversation. "So, Eugene Fitzherbert, huh?" She asked with a small mischievous gleam in her eye.

"Ah, yeah, well." I looked away from her, my composure rebuilding itself. "I'll spare you the sob story of poor orphan Eugene Fitzherbert." I said, looking back over at her with minor humor. "It's a…. It's a little bit of a downer." My eyes slid down to the fire as the memories of my childhood crept into my mind. Rapunzel scooted closer to me with her big green eyes intent and full of wanting for the story about… me?

"There was this book." I began one of my favorite memories from the orphanage. "A book I used to read every night to all the younger kids: The Tales of Flynnigan Ryder. Swashbuckling rogue, richest man alive… Not bad with the ladies either." I added the last bit with a look over at Rapunzel who looked entranced. "Not that he ever bragged about it of course."

"Was he a thief, too?" She asked innocently.

"Uhh… Well, no." I said, deflating a little, the memory graying. I conjured up the stories in my mind. "Actually, he had enough money to do anything he wanted to do. He could go anywhere that he wanted to go. And to a kid… with nothing… I don't know. It just seemed like the better option." I recounted in my mind how I so wanted to be like him. Rapunzel let out a small half laugh half sigh that brought be back. "You can't tell anyone about this. Okay?" I said, leaning toward her. "It could ruin my whole reputation."

"Ah. We wouldn't want that." She joked, leaning toward me with a tilt of her head.

"Well, a fake reputation is all a man has." I smiled. She laughed that laugh that made me want to close the distance between us and kiss her. I cleared my throat and looked away from her beautiful eyes that were locked on me.

"Well. I should… uhm. I. I. I should get some more firewood." I stammered, getting up quickly. I kept looking back at her as I stuttered and finally willed myself to stop, turning my whole body away from her and toward the forest.

"Hey." She said gently. Her voice halted me in my tracks. I looked over my shoulder at her. "For the record, I like Eugene Fitzherbert much better than Flynn Ryder." She said with a genuine smile.

"Well," I shrugged and looked down at my hand that she'd fixed. "Then you'd be the first." I looked back over at her beautiful smile. "I thank you." I let go of my hand and turned back to walk into the forest, my heart feeling light and fluttery. I looked at my hand as I walked away. My hand had healed completely. There was no more pain and there was no scar left on my skin.

When I was safely out of sight from Rapunzel I leaned against a tree while my eyes adjusted to the darkness that now surrounded me. _No no no._ I pleaded with myself. I groaned outwardly. _You can't go falling for_ her. I pushed myself off the tree and grabbed a few sticks off the ground, silently fighting with myself.

"So!" I called when I'd brushed off my vulnerability in the darkness and could see the fire that Rapunzel was standing near. "Hey, uh! Can I ask you something? Is there any chance that I'm gunna get super strength in my hand, 'cause I'm not gunna lie. That would be stupendous." I'd gotten close enough to see she was facing away from the fire, standing stock still. She hadn't answered or moved since I'd approached. "Hey. You alright?"

She suddenly turned as if she hadn't heard me before. Her face was drained of all color and she brushed some hair away from her face absently and shrugged. "Oh! Sorry. Yes. Uhm. Lost in thought I guess." She smiled sadly.

I tried to shrug it off. "I mean but here's the thing… Superhuman good looks- I've had 'em. Born with it! But superhuman strength! Can you imagine the possibilities?" I asked as I started building the fire back up.

"Yeah." She said absently.

"Tired?" I asked, looking up at her. She shrugged before nodding reluctantly.

"That must be it." She sat down near the base of the neighbor tree and pulled her hair around herself to make a blanket. "Could you…?" She trailed off.

"I'll make sure no monsters come to get you." I said quietly, sitting up straighter and playing with the last stick in my hand. She didn't seem to hear me as she leaned against the tree and closed her eyes.


	7. Seven: The Kingdom

**Seven: The Kingdom**

The sounds of a horse snorting and hot air on my face made me wake up. I looked up to see the guard's horse who had pursued me through the woods standing over me. _This has to be a dream._

"Well, I hope you're here to apologize." I said flippantly before closing my eyes again. The horse bit my boot and started running. I let out a scream, trying to dig my hands into the grass and dirt to stop being pulled. "No! No! Put me down! Stop it!" Rapunzel sprang awake and immediately ran after me, diving for my hands. I grabbed onto her arms as she pulled.

"Let. Me. Go!" I yelled as Rapunzel pulled as hard as she could.

"Give me him!" She yelled through gritted teeth. The horse shook its head freeing some of the boot enough that with one final pull, the boot came flying off. I scrambled away from the horse and into a tree. The horse started charging and Rapunzel stood up, putting herself between me and the horse.

After not being able to get around her to get to me, the horse's eyes landed on Rapunzel. "Easy." She said gently. "That's it." She said in a soothing voice. "You're such a good boy." She reached out and pet it's nose and face. "Yes you are." She said as it nuzzled her. "Are you tired from chasing this bad man all over the place?"

"Excuse me?" I asked indignantly even though I wanted to laugh.

"Nobody appreciates you, do they?" She continued as she pet the horse.

"Oh come on! He's a bad horse!" I said from my seat against the tree trunk.

"Oh he's nothing but a big sweetheart." She smiled before looking down at it's royal harness which bore the name Maximus. "Isn't that right, Maximus?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Look. This is kind of the biggest day of my life." Rapunzel said, looking between the horse and I. She helped me up and brought me over to the horse. "And it's also my birthday." She muttered as if to herself. "Just so you know." She added in a small voice to no one in particular as she went to grab her frying pan and walked away.

I followed her without a word and the horse stayed next to me, following her as if it were loyal to her after only five minutes. Rapunzel had spotted the bridge that led to the kingdom. She picked up her pace excitedly. When she reached the bridge she turned back to face me for a brief moment. Her whole face was alight with joy as she mouthed "Wow!"

It was hard not to feel the excitement that was radiating off of her. I followed her over the bridge at a small distance. She walked into the kingdom forgetting her trail of hair behind her. She was too busy looking at everything around her. She was seeing everything for the first time.

People, rushing about to get the town ready for the festival, didn't notice her golden hair and stepped on it as they passed. Rapunzel almost walked straight into- well almost everything. She gasped as she jumped away from the people and carts that she kept running into and gave a yelp of pain when her hair was pulled. I picked up her hair, rushing to get it off the floor.

She looked at me pleadingly as I looked around for a solution. Sitting at the fountain were four little girls all braiding each other's hair. "Hey!" I called. They looked over and I held up the armful of hair. Their faces lit up.

"Sit down here." The oldest one instructed Rapunzel as the other two girls laid her hair out in sections behind her. Rapunzel sat patiently and I sat with my back to a wall, watching out for guards and sneaking looks over at Rapunzel with the three girls who were braiding and sticking flowers into the braids.

I looked over the wall for a moment and ducked as guards passed. My eyes immediately fell on Rapunzel who's hair was now in a braid that reached to her ankles. I felt the goofy grin slip onto my lips as I looked at how beautiful she looked.

"Oh! Thank you!" Rapunzel said as she twirled, her eyes on the bottom of the braid.

"I'm starving." Rapunzel said after we paid the girls a small sum of money. I realized that neither of us had eaten anything yesterday besides what we'd had before our adventure. Before I could respond she had pulled me over to a fruit stand and grabbed a few oranges and handed them to me before something else caught her eye. She grabbed my hand and pulled me, trailing me behind her. I tossed the oranges back to the vendor as I ran with her.

She had brought me to a sweets stand where they were selling cupcakes. I dug in my pocket for money. I wasn't going to thieve and ruin her day. She was bouncing on her bare feet, her eyes alight with excitement.

"I want the pink one." She said, pointing.

"Do you even want to know what that flavor is or do you just want it because it's pink?" I asked, smiling. She didn't answer, but smiled back a goofy little grin. I got us one vanilla cupcake and one strawberry but only because it was pink. I gave her the pink one and she walked over to a shady little alcove. I looked behind us as we hid, watching the guards walk by. When I looked back she was beaming.

"Where are we in the world right now?" Rapunzel asked after a few small bites of her pink cupcake. "Spain? Britain? Russia?" I nearly choked on my food and swallowed.

"We're in Germany." I smiled.

"Where do I live?" She asked, licking icing from her thumb.

"In Germany." I had to remind myself silently that she had never left the tower in the woods. "That way." I pointed from where we had come.

"Oh. Have you been anywhere besides Germany?" She seemed disappointed that a half day's walk yesterday hadn't brought her to a new country.

"Finish eating and I'll show you in an atlas where I've been."

She practically scarfed down the rest of her breakfast without another word and grinned. I took her hand and led her into the massive library. I brought down an atlas and set it on the floor where she had sat. She opened it and ran her fingers over the intricately painted pictures of the world. She would point to certain spots and ask, "Here?"

"Yes." I didn't have time to tell her any of the stories from any of the places I'd been because her excitement over my traveling experience radiated and she kept pointing. When we had gotten to the back cover of the atlas she sighed before looking up at the window.

"Look!" She pointed. Little purple banners had been put up, strung from the building tops. On all the banners was the very familiar (to me) emblem of the kingdom: a bright yellow sun.

"Would you like one?" I asked. She turned to me, her whole face saying yes before the word could form on her lips. "They sell them in the street. Come on." I helped her up and led her out of the library by the hand and into the street. When I found the kid selling the small flags I paid him the coin and handed Rapunzel the flag. She held it up, comparing it to the banners that hung above us. She had leaned backward into me as I put my arm around her shoulders and looked to see what she was seeing. Above the flag she held were the identical banners and below it I saw a drawing contest.

"Look." I pointed. Her eyes lit up and she ran over.

"I need purple and light purple and yellow." She told me, looking at the floor as if it were a canvas. I walked over to where the colored chalk was waiting and grabbed the three colors that she's demanded. She set to work, handing me the flag to hold as a reference. As I watched her draw I realized that all of the art in the tower had been done by her and her alone. She looked at the floor as a natural canvas because her canvas had always been the walls and floors of her own home. She stood up and wiped her sweating forehead with the back of her arm, admiring her artwork.

"How about we wash up and have lunch?" I asked. She beamed at me and followed me to a wash area where she rubbed the purple chalk from her hands, instantly turning the water a murky purple.

We got in line at a baker's stand where they were selling meats, cheeses, and fresh loaves of bread. She stood next to me while we were in line. She stepped away from me and I looked up to see her looking at the mural of the royal family. I stayed in line counting the money in the palm of my hand.

"What'll it be, dearie?" The vendor asked when I got up there. I made the few selections and paid them. When I turned around Rapunzel was dancing in the center of the town. A fiddler saw and started to play. I watched as she pulled more and more people in. The townspeople started to dance, easily persuaded by her impromptu dance.

I was leaning against a wall with the food I'd just bought and our two pets, the lizard and the horse, next to me on one side and an older man on my other side. Rapunzel, still dancing, looked to me and waved her hand to try to get me to dance with her. I shook my head to decline. The old man next to me gave me a shove. I dropped the food at the horse's feet and glared back at him from the dance as he threw his head back and laughed.

As the entire town joined in to dance, my hopes were that I would end up dancing with the blonde beauty with flowers in her hair. We locked eyes and reached toward each other but were taken by two other people with the rhythm of the dance. I watched her being twirled away from me and her eyes stayed locked on mine as we both spun. Eventually there were too many people between us and I focused on the dancing. As I spun, she was suddenly in my arms. We were chest to chest and the whole world seemed to dim around us as she smiled, breathless, up at me. Her small delicately soft hands were in mine.

"To the boats!" A voice shouted. Rapunzel seemed to suddenly become embarrassed, taking her hands out of mine and taking a shy step away. We both glanced around as others began to depart.


	8. Eight: The Lanterns

**Eight: The Lanterns**

I brought Rapunzel over to the dock and paid for a boat. She stood next to ours while I bought a bag of apples and two lanterns to light. I hid the lanterns and dropped the bag of apples at the horse's hooves.

I offered her my hand and she stepped into the boat looking uneasy as it moved under her weight. I followed her, untying us from the dock. As I moved us away from the dock she looked over her shoulder at me. "Where are we going?"

"Well, best day of your life? I figured you should have a decent seat." By the time we had reached the center of the lake, the Sun had sunk and the stars were coming out. I stopped our boat and turned it so we were looking at the kingdom. Rapunzel let out a sigh and looked away from the darkened kingdom.

"You okay?" I asked gently.

"I'm terrified." She whispered, her eyes on the reflections that danced on the water.

"Why?"

"I've been looking out a window for eighteen years _dreaming_ about what it might feel like when those lanterns rise in the night's sky. What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?" She was looking up at the kingdom now, a sad look drawn onto her face.

"It will be." I promised.

"What if it is? What do I do then?" She asked softly, her eyes turning to me and pleading for an answer.

"Well, that's the good part I guess." I shrugged. "You get to go find a new dream." A small smile escaped onto her lips. We both looked back up at the kingdom.

"Put out your hand." She said, turning to me. I moved so I was facing her and put out my hand. She started plucking flowers from her braid and dropping them into my hand.

"Wait, don't you want those?" I asked, biting my tongue before adding _They're beautiful in your hair._

"I'm not taking them all out." She reassured me. She started to pluck flowers one by one out of my hand and place them in the water to decorate it. We both looked down at the water right as the first lantern, the King and Queen's lantern, rose from the kingdom's reflection. Rapunzel froze, her eyes widening.

She lifted her head and eyes to see the lantern lifting into the sky, a single bright light in the dark sky. She jumped up, making the boat rock and sending me backwards as she raced to one end of the boat. Hundreds of lanterns began to float up from the kingdom and I watched as her shoulders released the tension of worry and stress.

As she gazed at the sky that was filling with lanterns, I pulled out our lanterns and lit them, holding onto them so they wouldn't float away yet. She turned slowly and her face lit up as she saw the two lanterns in my hands. She walked back to her seat across from me and sat down.

"I have something for you, too." She said, grabbing the satchel that I'd forgotten about. "I should have given it to you before, but I was just scared. And the thing is… I'm not scared anymore. You know what I mean?" She asked, her eyes finally meeting mine.

I pushed the satchel away from her hands and back down onto the bench she was sitting on. "I'm starting to." I confessed. She took her lantern then and we pushed them up into the sky.

 _All those days, chasing down a daydream. All those days, living in a blur. All that time, never truly seeing things the way they were._ I watched her face as she pointed to lanterns and pushed them back up before they hit the water. _Now she's here, shining in the starlight. Now she's here. Suddenly, I know if she's here, it's crystal clear, I'm where I'm meant to go._

I reached for her hands and she turned to me, blushing. "And at last I see the light." I sang aloud at the same time as her. "And it's like the fog has lifted." I sang gently to her as she beamed. "And at last I see the light." We sang in unison again.

"And it's like the sky is new." She trilled.

"And it's warm and real and bright. And the world has somehow shifted. All at once, everything is different now that I see you."

"Now that I see you." I said gently as I brushed some of her bangs out of her face. She looked beautiful and perfect. Looking at her I wanted to freeze this moment and stay with her here forever. I cupped her face with my hand and leaned in to kiss her. Her eyes fluttered closed. My heart was racing and as I started to close the distance and close my eyes, a green light on the shore made me stop cold. Every fiber of my being froze in fear and protection. I couldn't let anything happen to her.


	9. Nine: The Crown

**Nine: The Crown**

"Is everything okay?" Rapunzel's voice brought me back from the green light on shore.

"Huh? Oh! Yes. Uh…" I stammered. There wasn't an easy way to explain. "Yes. Of course. I just…" My eyes landed on the satchel with the stolen crown. I tried to think of the best way to give the crown to the Stabbingtons so they wouldn't follow me anymore.

"Okay." Rapunzel said quietly as I picked up the oars and started to row us toward the shore.

"I'm sorry. Everything is fine." I tried to reassure her as I pulled the boat up onto the land. "There's just something I have to take care of." I said, knowing full well that I was being vague as I picked up the satchel.

Rapunzel's eyes darted from my face to the bag in my hand and back. "Okay." She nodded but didn't look convinced.

"I'll be right back." I promised, trying to ease the look of mild fear in her eyes. I turned away from her and toward the break in the rocks where I'd just seen the Stabbingtons disappear into. Behind the stones was a smaller little beach with a docked ship.

"Ah, there you are!" I said cheerfully as I walked toward my previous cohort. "I've been searching everywhere for you guys since we got separated. Hey, the sideburns are coming in nice, huh? Gotta be excited about that." I cleared my throat as he looked up from his whittling. "Anyhow. I just wanted to say- shouldn't have split. The crown is all yours." I tossed the bag and it landed at his feet, the crown sliding out of the bag a little. "I'll miss ya but i think it's for the-" As I turned I ran straight into Eyepatch. "Best." I finished, feeling anxiety rise in my throat.

"Holding out on us again? Ey, Ryder?"

"What?"

"We heard you found something. Something much more valuable than a crown." The other brother stood up and kicked the crown out of his way as he closed in on me. "We want her instead."

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to buy time as I tried to think of how to get out of here and get back to Rapunzel. At two to one my odds weren't looking great.

Eyepatch grabbed my arms and I struggled to break free. The other slammed his fist across my jaw three times before he smashed his fist into the side of my head.

I blinked a few times. "Rapunzel…" I muttered. My surroundings registered suddenly. I was at the dock on a ship. Ropes were holding me up and the crown was tied to my hand. "Rapunzel!" I shouted even though I knew she was nowhere near me. My heart raced as I heard the brothers' words in my head. _We want her instead._

Suddenly guards were leaping off the dock and onto the ship that I was tied to. "Nonono! Wait! Wait! Guys! Guys!" I shouted as they untied me and pulled me off the ship and up onto the dock. I struggled against the four guards that had me while the fifth had taken the crown. "Rapunzel!" I shouted hoping that somehow she could hear me and know that I didn't mean to deliver her to danger.


	10. Ten: The Prison Break

**Ten: The Prison Break**

I didn't sleep that night. I sat with my back against the stone walls of my cell and waited for the Sun to come up. The second there was enough light to see, I stood up, pacing the short length of my cell. I cursed myself silently for not kissing her. I kicked myself for not just dropping the entire bag, crown and all, into the lake instead of trying to give it to the Stabbingtons.

What must have Rapunzel thought when I didn't come back? Was she okay? Had she gotten away from them? My heart ached as my mind ran in circles. I was supposed to protect her and bring her back home _safe_. I only hoped that she'd gotten home- that those two brutes hadn't laid a single finger on her. I felt sick not knowing what had happened and knowing I'd failed to keep her safe.

I gripped the bars on my window that looked out over the gallows. Behind me the door to my cell creaked open. I turned and saw the head guard flanked by two other guards standing there. "Let's get this over with, Ryder."

"Where are we going?" There wasn't an answer to my question and I already knew the answer. It was outside my window. My hand went to my throat. "Oh." One of the smaller guards came in with cuffs and I turned and put my hands behind my back. There was no use in fighting. I'd let the Stabbingtons have Rapunzel. I couldn't protect her.

As I walked, resigned to the fact that I had failed and was about to die for a stupid mistake, I let my eyes wander to the other inmates that were waking up to the sounds of my chains. Sitting in a cell together were two overly sized redheads, sitting against their bars. Anger boiled up and I clenched my jaw before ramming my shoulder into one of the guards and then the other before jumping over my arms so they were in front of me. I reached through the bars and grabbed the collar of one.

"How did you know about her?! Tell me! Now!" I yelled, pulling him so his face was smashed against the bars that separated us.

"It wasn't us!" He sagged against the bars. "It was the old lady!"

"Old lady?" I repeated, thinking. " _You are not leaving this tower! Ever!"_ The voice rang in my ears as the guards pulled me away from the cell bars and started forcing me down the hallway again. "Wait! You don't understand!" I yelled as I struggled against the three guards that were now pulling me. "She's a troubled witch!" I screamed. I thrashed against them. _Rapunzel is alive._ We passed a window as I fought and I saw the noose sway silently in the wind making me shrink back.

Anxiety prickled under my skin as we neared the end of the last hallway. The door suddenly slammed shut. Then all of the doors in the small hallway we were in closed one at a time. The guards looked from door to door.

"What's this?" The head guard yelled. He slammed his fist on the door that would lead to the gallows. "Open up!" He demanded.

"What's the password?" A sluggishly intoxicated voice slurred from the other side of the door.

"What?"

"Nope." The voice was from one of the drunkards from the Snuggly Duckling.

"Open this door!" Shouted the guard, becoming angrier as his confusion grew.

"Not even close!"

As the guard argued through the door, a second door opened next to me and the other two guards. Vladimir from the pub grabbed one, his hand covering the mouth that was about to cry for help. Hook Hand grabbed the other from the ceiling, pulling him out of view. The head guard turned to see me standing alone in the middle of the hallway. I smiled and gave a small wave.

The door behind him opened and Attila emerged, holding a frying pan. He brought the frying pan down on the guard's head as hard as he could. The guard crumpled to the door immediately.

"Frying pans! Who knew, right?" I smiled. The door from where I had just come busted down as guards flooded in, racing for me. I ran through the door next to me along with Atilla while Vlad and Hook Hand took two different routes. I followed Attila blindly as the guards followed us. Attila led me straight into the courtyard where the hangman's noose waited. I froze as I saw hundreds of guards spilling down the stairs into the courtyard. Hook Hand grabbed me from behind setting me down next to him.

"Head down!" He instructed and demonstrated, his eyes on me. I copied his movements and words. "Arms in." He said, moving his arms closer to his body. I copied again. "Knees apart." He said, moving his legs to a wide stance.

"Legs apart." I repeated, moving to copy him. "Knees apart?" I asked but it was too late. Behind me, Vlad jumped onto the plank of the wagon I was on, catapulting me up. I let out a scream and closed my eyes.

I landed hard enough that my legs and groin hurt but safe enough that I was alive and unbroken.. I opened my eyes slowly and saw that I was now sitting in the saddle on Max's back. "Max. You brought them here?" I relaxed my arms down to pet his neck. "Thank you."

Three guards burst through the door directly behind us. I dug my heels into max's sides and he started running at a full sprint. I grabbed onto the reins and ducked to avoid the arrows that were being shot at me. Max was running straight for the edge of our path that had to be several stories above the ground. There were dozens more guards filling the end of our path in front of us but the horse kept running.

"Max?!" I yelled right before Maximus leaped off the edge. A strangled cry escaped my throat as we soared and then crashed onto a rooftop. This didn't slow him down. He jumped off of the roof and onto the paved ground of the town. "Okay, Max. Let's see how fast you can run." As I said it, Max pushed even harder, gaining speed faster and faster straight over the bridge and into the forest.


	11. Eleven: The End

**Eleven: The End**

I steered Max straight for the vines that led to Rapunzel's hidden tower. He galloped through them and we rounded the corner, seeing the tower immediately, just as I had the first time. My heart was pounding in my chest as Max raced straight for the tower. I jumped off and yelled up, feeling every hair on my body stand on end.

"Rapunzel?! Rapunzel, let down your hair!" I cried as loud as I could. I was without my knives or daggers. Nothing was happening. I gripped the stones on the side of the tower and started to climb. My mind and heart were racing.

A noise above me made me stop and look up. For a moment there was nothing. Then, a rush of golden hair came falling past me. I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I grabbed on and started to climb.

"Rapunzel!" I said as I climbed through the window. "I thought I'd never see you again!" I looked up as I stepped into the room and my heart dropped into my stomach. Rapunzel's hands were tied behind her and chained to the wall. White fabric was tied around her mouth and gagging her. She cried out a muffled cry from where she sat, crumpled on the floor.

I didn't have time to react before the hot pain of being stabbed ripped through my side. I fell to my knees, grabbing my stomach. Hot blood soaked through my shirt immediately and wet my hands.

"Now, look what you've done, Rapunzel." A voice above me said. "Oh, don't worry, dear. Our secret will die with _him_." She stepped over me but I barely felt it over the pain that seeped into every muscle. I could hear her shoes stepping on glass as she crossed the room. "And as for us? Huh." The chain that was restraining Rapunzel clinked. "We are going where no one will ever find you again." Rapunzel's cries were muffled. "Rapunzel, really! Enough already! Stop fighting me!"

I opened my eyes a little to see Rapunzel struggling against a woman who was holding the chain and standing next to a hole in the floor.

"No!" Rapunzel shouted, getting the gag off of her mouth. She was gasping and still struggling against the chain. "I won't stop for every minute of the rest of my life I will fight! I will never stop trying to get away from you! But…" _No!_ "If you let me save him, I will go with you."

My insides turned. "No! No, Rapunzel!" My hands were slick with my own blood and my voice was only coming out as a whispered groan.

"I'll never run, I'll never try to escape. Just let me heal him and you and I will be together forever. Just like you want. Everything will be the way it was. I promise. Just like you want. Just let me heal him." She pleaded, ignoring my protests.

Rapunzel was made to turn around and stay where she was while the woman unchained her. I coughed and tasted blood in my mouth. The tall woman in the red dress walked over to me and pulled me over to the staircase where she wrapped the chain around the railing before putting the shackles on my wrists.

"In case you get any ideas about following us." She hissed, throwing my arm back at me. I coughed again, grabbing my side.

"Eu- Eugene!" Rapunzel ran over to me, her hands immediately going to my face to move my hair out of my eyes. I winced. Everything hurt no matter how gentle her hands were. She pulled my fingers away from my blood soaked clothes.

"Oh. I'm so sorry. Everything is going to be okay, though." The pain showed in her eyes as she looked from my face to my wound. I was dying.

"No, Rapunzel." I pushed her hand away that was now holding some of her hair.

"I promise. You just have to trust me." She said, trying again to push her hair toward my bleeding side.

"No!" I groaned, trying to push her away again. "I can't let you do this."

"And I can't let you die." She whispered sadly.

"But if you do this…" I struggled against the pain and the taste of blood in my mouth. "Then you will die."

"Hey… It's going to be alright." She whispered, her soft small hand on my cheek. There was no point in arguing. She wasn't going to listen. With one hand I tried to push myself to keep myself upright. My hand landed on a sharp piece of glass. She opened her mouth to start singing.

"Rapunzel, wait." She stopped and opened her eyes. I reached up one of my hands to brush her hair away from her face and grabbed it all just behind her hair before bringing my other hand up with the glass and cutting through all of it. My energy was spent. I collapsed against the railing I was chained to and dropped the glass.

"Eugene! Wha-" I couldn't open my eyes. I'd saved her. That was enough. Sounds became muffled. The pain in my side had eased. _She's going to be okay._

"Nonono! Eugene?" Her voice sounded far away. I barely felt her hands on my face. I coughed and this time I could barely taste the blood that leaked into my mouth. "No! Look at me! Look at me! I'm right here! Stay with me, Eugene!" Everything was getting farther and farther away. Her beautiful voice rose as she attempted to sing the song. _It's okay. I don't feel the pain. It's going to be alright._

"Rapunzel." I opened my eyes to see her. Her golden hair was gone, replaced by short brown hair. Her beautiful green eyes were filled with tears.

"What?"

"You were my new dream." I said, mustering up the rest of my strength to tell her. Her lip trembled for a moment in a sad smile.

"You were mine." She whispered back.

 _I love you._ All of the pain receded and every sound died away.


	12. Twelve: The New Beginning

**Twelve: The New Beginning**

My eyes fluttered open. Rapunzel sat over me.

"Rapunzel?" I whispered. Her teary eyes filled with happiness. Relief flooded me as I looked up into her beautiful face.

"Eugene?" She tried to brush the short brown hair out of her face.

"Did I ever tell you I've got a thing for brunettes?"

"Eugene!" She squealed and threw her arms around me without hesitation. I wrapped one arm around her while I sat up. I felt my heart pounding in my chest against hers. I hugged her tightly, burying my face in her neck. She pulled away from me for a moment, her eyes scanning my face and laughing pure joy before kissing me.

Everything stopped for a moment when her soft lips pressed to mine. My heart skipped before I closed my eyes and felt my own lips move with hers. My arm that was wrapped around her pressed her against me as I shifted, bringing my other hand off the floor and up her back. Her knees fell to either side of me as she kissed harder and with more desperation. One of her hands combed into my hair and grabbed a fistful as the other pulled gently at the collar of my shirt.

"I love you." I whispered against her as my lips moved from her mouth to her neck.

"I love you." She answered in a half sigh with her eyes closed as her hands moved to my chest. I moved my hand down to her waist and the clinking of the chains made me stop.

"Wait." I said, pulling away and biting my bottom lip. She paused and looked at me, her face flushed with red. "Where's the key?" She giggled before getting up and going to the other end of the room where the key lay forgotten. She half ran back to me and I held out my arm for her to unlock the manacles. Her hand lingered in mine before I got up and stood with my head bent, my lips brushing her forehead. She tilted her face up to mine and kissed me again. I gently ran my tongue over her lips and felt her shiver in my arms.

I scooped her up and she giggled, throwing her arms around my shoulders and kicking her feet before planting kisses in the space on my neck where it met my shoulder. I walked up the stairs slowly, trying to walk despite the way her kisses made my knees weak.

"There." She said, pointing with her foot up to an archway with red curtains acting as a door. I walked into her room, pushing the curtain aside gently. Her kisses had returned, ripping my attention from my surroundings.

I dropped Rapunzel down onto the bed and kissed her as I kicked my boots off behind me. Her hands fumbled at my vest, ripping and pulling it off of me. She pulled away from me to yank my white shirt over my head and tossed it aside absently as her eyes drank me in. I pulled her up against me, my body aching for her, and my fingers felt clumsy as they worked the strings of her corset. Once there were no more clothes she pulled me to her, kissing and nipping at my bottom lip, sending shivers down my spine.

"Do you want this?" I asked, our eyes locking.

"Yes." she whispered, pulling me closer and kissing me deeply.

Rapunzel's head was on my shoulder as she played with my hand. Moonlight spilled in through the bedroom window, illuminating the small space. A vanity stood near the door with its mirror tipped. All of the things that should have been on it were scattered or broken on the floor. The small purple flag with the kingdom's sun emblem lay on the floor.

"What happened?" I whispered, my lips against Rapunzel's temple.

"When?" She asked softly. Her hands had stopped moving and gently held two of my fingers.

"When you got here."

"Mother brought me here and took my hair down from the braid and took all of the flowers." Rapunzel whispered, her voice so soft I could barely hear it. "She left to go make soup and I saw the Sun."

"The Sun?"

"The kingdom has a Sun and so does everything." She said slowly and vaguely. "What happened to you when you left?" She asked in a louder voice, bringing it back to normal volume.

"I saw these two guys I used to work with and they wanted the crown that I'd stolen with them a few days ago. I went to go give them the crown and tell them I wanted no part anymore. They told me they wanted you for… your hair." I cleared my throat. "I woke up tied to a boat with the crown tied to my hand. The guards took me to jail and were about to hang me when the guys from the snuggly duckling came and broke me out. Max brought me here. How am I alive right now? I cut off your hair." I fingered the tips of her short brown hair.

"I don't know. I cried and sang because that's all I know." She moved to look up at me and kissed my cheek.

"What were you saying about the Sun's?" I asked gently as she moved her hand to touch my side where I'd been stabbed.

"I'm her." Rapunzel whispered, nuzzling her face into my chest shyly.

"What?"

"I am the lost princess." Rapunzel said quietly, lifting her head so that he words came out clearly. A chill ran through me as she said it.


	13. Thirteen: The Lost Princess

**Thirteen: The Lost Princess**

"Do you want to go back to the kingdom?" I asked her the next day as she scrubbed blood out of our clothes in the stream.

"Yes." She said almost instantly. "No?" This was an exact reverse of what had happened in the forest when I'd asked her if she was going to come back to the tower. "It's complicated." She finished.

"Why?"

"I've never been anywhere. I've never met anyone." She said as the water turned red.

"You've been to the kingdom. You've met people." I corrected her gently. She let out a small laugh and lifted my vest out of the water. She turned to look up at the tower from where we were on the ground. Her eyes did a double take over the cloak of her kidnapper.

"She brought me everything I ever needed." Rapunzel said quietly.

"Hey." I came to sit next to her and wrapped my arms around her as she cried. "If you want to go to the castle, I'll bring you. If you want to stay here, I'll take care of you. If you want to go to Spain or Britain or Russia, I'll take you." She nodded and lifted her head, smiling.

In the end, Rapunzel asked for me to take her to the kingdom to at least meet her real parents. She stitched my vest and shirt. We recuperated for three days, mostly staying in bed or running around at the base of the tower. Maximus had stayed, grazing at the base of the tower for those days.

"You ride it?" She asked, looking at me skeptically as I put my hand out to help her up onto Maximus' back. I nodded. "Show me." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. I let out a small laugh and leaped up into the saddle seat. I pressed my heels into his sides and he walked in a little circle. I pulled the reins gently and he stopped. I waited. "I wanna try!" I said, her eyes full of delight. I put my hand down for her and she grabbed it. I pulled her up with ease and sat her in front of me. "Go!" She said, all excitement. I pressed into his sides and we took off at a trot for the kingdom.

"Wait here!" The guard looked breathless looking at Rapunzel. His face had drained of color as if he had seen a ghost. My heart ached. I felt like I was delivering her to her new home and she was delivering me, involuntarily, to the noose.

We waited, holding hands, looking out over the kingdom from the palace's balcony. She didn't say a word and she didn't have to. She was nervous and excited and still in mourning. I heard the double doors behind us open and I turned at the same time as Rapunzel. Her hand dropped from mine as she saw the Queen.

The Queen looked so much like just an older version of Rapunzel. Her brown hair was long and had a few grays that streaked through it elegantly. Her eyes were the same bright green as Rapunzel's. Seeing them together, it was obvious that Rapunzel was the princess. I watched as they embraced and the King joined them. The three of them melted to the floor, stuck in the embrace.

I felt sad and happy. I was glad to see her with the family she was supposed to have but I felt out of place, like no one would be able to see past Flynn Ryder to Eugene Fitzherbert- that I'd never be forgiven and therefore could never follow Rapunzel.

The Queen opened her eyes and looked up at me. She smiled and lifted her hand to me. I took it, expecting a handshake, a silent thank you for returning their daughter to them. I was surprised when she pulled me down into the reunited family hug.

We were home.


	14. Continue Reading

**Thank you for reading! There is a proper ending to this story. It's a separate story on here. If you want to read the ending I've written, here's the link!** s/12551524/1/After-Tangled-The-End


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